It is known, in vehicles of the kind referred to, to arrange for the current collector to be displaceable in the lateral direction on the vehicle body roof. It can either be displaced so that it remains substantially parallel to itself or it can be swung around a vertical shaft in front of a contact rail of the current collector which runs along the overhead contact line. The current collector is displaced in the lateral direction relative to the vehicle body roof by means of either a rope system, a linkage system, or a hydraulic system which is connected to a bogie of the vehicle. See, for example, Swiss Patent Specification No. 541,452 and Austrian Patent Specification No. 327,289. It is also known to mount the current collector on a mast which is supported by a bogie and projects through the vehicle body (see German Patent Specification No. 717,539). All of the above-mentioned solutions have both advantages and disadvantages. When the current collector is mounted on a mast supported by a bogie, a simple supporting construction is obtained, but the mast passes through the vehicle body close to the longitudinal plane of symmetry of the latter, where it causes an obstruction. A major disadvantage of such a construction is that it supports relatively great masses at a large distance from the bogie. Disturbances to which the bogies are subjected, caused by track faults, are propagated up through the mast and can give rise to lateral oscillations of the current collector which may be difficult to cope with, owing the large damping effect that is required. Considerble torsional oscillations can arise when the current collector is arranged to swing about a vertical shaft. Again, in the known arrangements in which the current collector is movably mounted on the roof of the vehicle body, for example on laterally disposed guides, the current collector has to be connected to the bogie in such a way that it maintains a substantially constant position in relation to the overhead contact rail. The employment of hydraulic systems for effecting this connection has the disadvantage that leakage of the hydraulic fluid may jeopardize the correct control of the position of the current collector. Furthermore, the employment of mechanical linkages and rope systems for effecting this connection has the disadvantage that the equipment becomes relatively complicated.
The present invention has for its object to provide a rail-bound vehicle of the kind referred to which at the same time provides a good maintenance of the position of the current collector relative to the overhead contact line, has a simple means for supporting and guiding the current collector, and the current collector of which has a very reduced risk of developing lateral and torsional oscillations, compared with hitherto known rail-bound vehicles of this kind.